SPOTLIGHT #2: The IRS – Income Tax Highlights

Perhaps you’ve had a chance to read the featured article on the history of the Los Angeles Superior Court (probate, civil and criminal) posted on October 15, 2007. Here is another article covering the highlights of the history of the IRS beginning with the enactment of a new income tax in 1862 and its repeal just 10 years later.

1862 – To help pay for Civil War expenses, President Lincoln signed into law a revenue-raising measure. The measure created the nation’s first income tax as well as a Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The new law levied a 3% tax on income between $600 and $10,000 and a 5% tax on income of more than $10,000. (Those were the good ol’ days.)

1867 – Responding to public opposition to the income tax, Congress cut the tax rate. From 1868 until 1913, 90% of all revenue came from taxes on wine, beer, liquor and tobacco.

1872 – Income tax repealed.

1894….1894 – The income tax was re-enacted with the Wilson Tariff Act and an income tax division within the Bureau of Internal Revenue was created.

1895 – The Supreme Court ruled the new income tax unconstitutional on the grounds that it was not apportioned among the states on the basis of population and was a direct tax. The income tax division was disbanded.

1909 – President Taft recommended Congress propose a constitutional amendment that would give the government the power to tax incomes without apportioning the burden among the states in line with population. Congress also levied a 1% tax on net corporate incomes of more than $5,000.

1913 – With the threat World War I coming, Wyoming became the 36th and last state needed to ratify the 16th Amendment. The amendment stated: “Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.” Later, Congress adopted a 1% tax on net personal income of more than $3,000 with a surtax of 6% on incomes of more than $500,000. It also repealed the 1909 corporate income tax. The first Form 1040 was introduced.

1918 – The Revenue Act of 1918 raised even more tax revenue for the World War I effort. It codified all existing tax laws and imposed a progressive income-tax rate structure of up to 77%.

1919 – The states ratified the 18th Amendment, barring the manufacture, sale or transport of intoxicating beverages. Congress passed the Volstead Act, which gave the Commissioner of Internal Revenue the primary responsibility for enforcement of Prohibition. The Department of Justice assumed primary prohibition enforcement duties eleven years later.

1931 – An undercover agent was used by the IRS Intelligence Unit to gather evidence against gangster Al Capone. Capone was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years.

1933 – Prohibition repealed. IRS again assumed responsibility for alcohol taxation the following year and for administering the National Firearms Act. Later, tobacco tax enforcement was added.

1942 – Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1942, hailed by President Roosevelt as “the greatest tax bill in American history.” It increased taxes and the number of Americans subject to the income tax. It also created deductions for medical and investment expenses.
1943 – Congress adopted the Current Tax Payment Act, which required employers to withhold taxes from employees’ wages and remit them quarterly.

1944 – Congress passed the Individual Income Tax Act, which created the standard deductions on Form 1040.

1952 – President Truman proposed his Reorganization Plan No. 1, which replaced the patronage system at the IRS with a career civil service system. It also decentralized service to taxpayers and sought to restore public confidence in the agency.

1953 – President Eisenhower endorsed Truman’s reorganization plan and changed the name of the agency to the Internal Revenue Service from the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

1954 – The filing deadline for individual tax returns changed to April 15 from March 15.

1961 – Computer age began at IRS with the dedication of the National Computer Center at Martinsburg, W.Va.

1986 -President Reagan signed the Tax Reform Act, the most significant piece of tax legislation in 30 years. It contained 300 provisions and took three years to implement. The act codified the federal tax laws for the third time since the Revenue Act of 1918.

1998 – Congress passed the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act, which expanded taxpayer rights and called for reorganizing the agency into four operating divisions aligned according to taxpayer needs.

2000 – IRS enacted reforms, ending its geographic-based structure and instituting four major operating divisions: Wage and Investment Income, Small Business/Self-Employed, Large and Mid-Size Business and Tax Exempt and Government Entities. It was the most sweeping change at the IRS since the 1953 reorganization.

2001 – IRS administered a mid-year tax credit program called the Advance Tax Credit Payment. Electronic filing reaches an all-time high, 40.2 million tax returns or more than 30% of all returns.

In the 1950s, the agency was reorganized to replace the patronage system with career, professional employees. Now, only the IRS Commissioner and Chief Counsel are selected by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Bureau of Internal Revenue name also was changed to the Internal Revenue Service to emphasize service to taxpayers.

The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 prompted the most comprehensive reorganization and modernization of IRS in nearly half a century. The law resulted in the IRS reorganizing itself into four major operating divisions, aligned by types of taxpayers:

The 1998 law also greatly expanded taxpayers’ rights and established a Taxpayer Advocate Service as an independent voice inside the agency on behalf of the taxpayer. The Taxpayer Advocate Service seeks to assist with problems that have not been resolved through normal channels. Each state also has a local taxpayer advocate who reports directly to the National Taxpayer Advocate.

For the 2003 fiscal year, the IRS will have almost 100,000 employees (full-time equivalent) and a budget of $9.9 billion.

SPOTLIGHT #1: The IRS - Income Tax Highlights Current tax policy is often a creature of history. To understand the origins of current tax laws, peruse a brief synopsis describing the development of the income tax over the last 150 years.